Enough about rain more about racing. Saturday night we visited Waynesfield Motorsports Park with the Midwest Mini Sprints. Despite our struggles all night, it was great to see everyone and have so many of our customers have great finishes. I'll start by complimenting both Waynesfield and the MMSA. Greg Shobe and family built Waynesfield Motorsportrs Park several years ago and have been big proponents of the mini sprints from the beginning. They have stuck by the track and the mini sprints through the ups and downs. We are very lucky to have Waynesfield as a track where the mini sprints have always been welcomed. The same can be said about Bill May and his diligence at pushing the MMSA forward. I worked with Bill on the Buckeye Mini Sprint Association back when the 600cc engines were popular in and around Ohio. That has been several years ago and Bill continues to promote the sport of mini sprint / lightning sprint racing in the area. For 2012 Bill has assembled a great schedule. Thanks for all your efforts.
Okay...now on to the racing. A full field of 26 cars were in attendance at Waynesfeild on Saturday, May 12th. Although we were disappointed with our performance, we were happy to see that several of our customers had strong performances. Rod Henning was doing double duty at Waynesfield running both a mini sprint and a sprint car. He was victorious in MMSA competition crossing the line ahead of T.J. Heil. (more on Hot Rod Henning's sprint car performance later) Heil racked up his second, second place finish of the young season. Another customer that has come on strong is Greg Nicholas who ran second for the majority of the race when a slight miscue relegated him to fourth--but still a very strong run. Lee Underwood brought his #24 home in 5th place, delivering two top fives for Lee this year.
Two really nice looking FOZ cars making their appearance for the first time were the team cars of Mensendiek Auctions piloted by Nathan Mensendiek and Beau Binder. Although both were still getting used to their new mounts, Binder brought his car home in 11th place and earned the Hard Charger award. Great job Beau.
Engine problems plagued several of the cars including Andy Bradly, Becca Stifl, Daniel Lucas and Damon Fortune. New to the mini sprint scene in 2012, Damon Fortune looked strong in hotlaps, before he experienced engine problems. Damon is the grandson of former USAC owner Blackie Fortune who fielded cars for names like Ken Schrader and Rich Vogler.
Congratulation go out to Kevin Roberts Jr. on his win at Twin Cities. His second of the season. Still no results from Twin Cities posted at the time of publishing this blog.
We're hoping to run a wandering schedule with a few different organizations this year. We haven't had the chance to run with the MMSA much, and it was fun getting to meet a few new faces.
Performance Powder Coating 1000cc Mini Sprints/MMSA (25 Cars)[#]-Starting Position
Heat 1 - Heat 1 (8 Laps - Top 9 finishers transfer to the A-feature) 1. 1R-Rick O'Shea[1] ; 2. 24L-Lee Underwood[3] ; 3. 50-Craig Stower[2] ; 4. 8F-Scott Fasse[9] ; 5. 26-Nathan Miller[6] ; 6. 328-Becca Stiefel[5] ; 7. 86-Andy Bradley[8] ; 8. 25-Collin Parker[7] ; 9. 111-Daniel Lucas[4]
Heat 2 - Heat 2 (8 Laps - Top 9 finishers transfer to the A-feature) 1. 31-Greg Nicholas[1] ; 2. 13E-TJ Heil[5] ; 3. 7R-Nick Daugherty[7] ; 4. 12J-Tyler Moore[4] ; 5. 30-Adam Treadway[6] ; 6. 22B-Brad Racer[3] ; 7. 71F-Nathan Mesendiek[2] ; 8. 39-Damon Fortune[8]
Heat 3 - Heat 3 (8 Laps - Top 9 finishers transfer to the A-feature) 1. 28H-Rod Henning[2] ; 2. 55-Rob Winks[6] ; 3. 65-Chris Bounds[1] ; 4. 80-Trey Gustin[3] ; 5. 12-Michael Roehling[7] ; 6. 71B-Beau Binder[8] ; 7. 8-Tanner McElroy[5] ; 8. 17-Adam Jackman[4]
A-Main - (20 Laps)1. 28h-Rod Henning[1]; 2. 13e-TJ Heil[4]; 3. 7r-Nick Daugherty[6]; 4. 31-Greg Nicholas[2]; 5. 24l-Lee Underwood[5]; 6. 1r-Rick O'Shea[3]; 7. 65-Chris Bounds[9]; 8. 80-Trey Gustin[10]; 9. 30-Adam Treadway[12]; 10. 12-Michael Roehling[15]; 11. 71b-Beau Binder[17]; 12. 8f-Scott Fasse[8]; 13. 12j-Tyler Moore[11]; 14. 50-Craig Stower[7]; 15. 8-Tanner McElroy[19]; 16. 71f-Nathan Mesendiek[16]; 17. 22b-Brad Racer[14]; 18. 26-Nathan Miller[13]; 19. 25-Collin Parker[18]; 20. 17-Adam Jackman[20] Hard Charger: 71b-Beau Binder[+6]
A shout out to J&T Photos. They do a great job of covering all the classes of racing at Lawrenceburg. Be sure to check out their albums that include plenty of photos from last Saturday night. http://www.jandtphotos.com/page2.php...ist&category=8 Pictured above is the Mensendiek Auction Racing Team cars 71 & 71B of Nathan Mensendiek and Beau Binder.
Brent Burrows and his grandfather Terry Meyers recently took delivery of a new FOZ G2. Brent won the first night out in the car in Peoria, Illinois this past weekend against some stiff competition. Way to go Brent!
Hot Rod Henning did double duty Saturday evening at Waynesfield. Here he is pictured in Jamie and Michelle Paul's sprint car. Despite starting deep in the field, Rod rallied to a fifth place finish. Although I didn't get to watch much, I was really impressed with what I saw. This is a pretty neat story has both driver and car owner have ties to the mini sprints. This is Paul's first year as a car owner after several years as a mini sprint driver. Paul owns the distinction of getting the first mini sprint win for the FOZ car brand. Best of luck to the whole crew this season.
Driver Jimmy Scanlon went up in flames this weekend at Wilmot. Although probably a pretty expensive picture, a pretty cool picture at that.
We had the pleasure of meeting Mike Whitmore and his driver Jimmy Scanlon at the Tulsa Shootout. This year Whitmore is fielding a two car team for Scanlon and Ryan Cully who plan on running primarily in Illinois and Wisconsin. They do a great job with their media (Facebook, YouTube). Here is a video they posted of a flip this weekend. Also below is another video that Ryan Cully put together spoofing MTV's Cribs. Looks like it should more aptly be called the Whitmore Racing Compound. I wonder if they've got a track in the backyard and a foam pit? We'll stay tuned for more of their videos.
Lightning Sprints At Eldora One of the events that has been receiving a lot of press this year is the mini sprints / lightning sprints first trip to Eldora. Greg Nicholas took advantage of their practice day and turned several laps. The consensus from those at the track is that the lightning sprints will be extremely fast. Nicholas said it was a blast. His lap times were faster than some of the sprint cars that were there that day. The Midwest Mini Sprint Association MMSA is scheduled at Eldora on Saturday August 11th. Below is a link to in-car video from Greg Nicholas's visit to Eldora.
We are working with a company that is producing a new neck brace to compete with the Hans. If you are familiar with the Defender, it is very similar. I have been wearing one for a few years now and really like it. Expected price on the unit is around $599. We are trying to put together our first order and need a few more to round it out. If you are looking for a neck brace let us know. The first few orders will be eligible for a nice introductory offer discount. Call us at 513.874.2034 if you are interested.
My daughter and I are hoping to travel to Indianapolis for practice on Wednesday. Most exciting is the fact that we have an open wheeler back in the mix and apparently doing quite well. Last reports I saw showed Bryan Clauson near the top of the speed charts. Best of luck to Bryan Clauson and the entire Sarah Fisher Racing crew.
It looks like a full weekend of racing coming up starting on Friday evening with the MMSA at Bloomington. Saturday evening racing continues with the MMSA at Brownstown and the AMSA at Montpelier. Day three of the weekend wraps up with AMSA competition at Kokomo.
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